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Retired FBI Agent Fights For Safe, Clean Drinking Water

My name is Don Sloan. I have a passion. It is against contaminated, unclean and unsafe water. I will go further and say that I want safe, clean water that is not only good for my family, but actually tastes great.

I decided to get the word out through a blog (as so many others have done for their passions).

I began “People Vs. Water” blog several months ago, after several years of concern about drinking water in the U.S.

When I was an FBI Agent, I was assigned, for a few years, to environmental crimes. When you are actually paying attention (which my assignment required me to do), you learn a lot.

Before this assignment, I did not know much about water pollution and how pollutants can enter our drinking water systems.

I was not aware just how serious the issue is in the United States of America. I quickly learned.

My investigations uncovered companies and individuals who would illegally discharge chemicals, pharmaceuticals, personal care products, agricultural wastes or biological wastes into lakes, rivers, streams and just on the ground where it can find its way into the ground water or drain into streams and rivers.

Many industrial companies located their factories, chemical plants, refineries, manufacturing plants near rivers and lakes for the water supply and perhaps to be located away from populated areas.

In earlier years of the country especially, some (not all, but some) of these companies used the river and lake for discharge of wastes. In those earlier days not much was known about what and how contaminants entered the drinking water supply.

Today, much has changed. Federal and state environmental laws have been passed to require treatment plants and suppliers to follow regulations and be monitored for compliance. Producers and users of potentially harmful products are also regulated and monitored for environmental effects.

Much has changed. Today we have over 50,000 water treatment and supply systems. For the most part they do an admirable job in supplying safe, clean drinking water.